Legal battles deny FIRS access to tax revenue worth N1.7trn

By Seun Ibiyemi

The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has disclosed that at least N1.7trillion collectable tax revenue is currently unrealisable because of the dispute between the service and various taxpayers.

Chairman of FIRS, Mohammed Nami, who disclosed this at the just-concluded retreat on the new Tax Appeal Tribunal (Procedure) Rules 2021 and the e-Filing Platform, organised for tax appeal tribunal board of commissioners, said some of the cases are pending in the tribunal, some in the high courts, some in Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court.

He said, “Hence we have to do something different by making sacrifices as you have always done so as to resolve these disputes and collect this money to fund the huge budget deficit of the Federal Government.”

Coordinating Secretary of Tax Appeals Tribunal (TAT), Hajara Bolanle Oniyangi, said TAT resolved 111 tax appeal cases valued at N7.3 billion between January and December 2021.

She said a total of 217 new appeals with an approximated disputed tax value of about N1.96 trillion were filed from January to December 2020.

The TAT secretary also disclosed that the tribunal has a total of 248 appeals with a disputed tax value of over N213.46 billion pending at the various zones and various stages of hearing and determination.

She commended the commissioners for the achievements recorded in the past year and noted that the objectives of the retreat was to reiterate the need for collaboration, teamwork and proper understanding of the new TAT Rules to enhance the capacity of the commissioners to effectively discharge their duties using the e-solution technology.